


Just a Dream

by nerdzeword



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, dramione - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 10:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2306771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdzeword/pseuds/nerdzeword
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They don't have a chance. Or maybe they do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> As always, everything belongs to Queen JK. 
> 
> This was originally supposed to be a songfic for the song Just a Dream by Nelly, but shit happened and it is what it is. The basic premise is still the same however.   
> Enjoy!

It was so easy to believe it in the safety of those four walls. That they could be happy, that the war didn’t exist. That they weren’t enemies. It was so easy to fall into his arms and forget that everything else existed. He was everything she could ever have wanted, but unfortunately wanting it wasn’t enough.

The war raged around her and for some reason all she could see was him, standing there across the hall, on the opposite side. She could feel his longing from across the room and silently dared him to act upon it, to show one shred of the emotion he displayed when it was just them.

An explosion shook through the room and the moment was broken. He ran off, most likely to find his parents, and she turned to find her best friends. She reminded herself of her mission. She didn't have time to think about him. Not today.

She did anyway.

She knew all of his reasons of course. All of them were valid. Logical. But her heart couldn’t care less. She missed him and wished that he would abandon logic for once and just show the affection she knew he had for her in front of someone else. She knew the risks of course; they could die, putting the entire plan in jeopardy. It wasn’t worth it. It was just a dream.

But still her heart protested.

She saw him again, minutes later, protecting a disarmed and injured Tonks, who was cradling Lupin’s head in her lap. Her breath came up short as he dodged a blast from his opponent’s wand. She couldn’t even tell whose side his attacker was on. She had to turn and face an attack of her own so she missed the look of concern that flashed across his face as he looked over to where she fought.

 

He writhed in pain as someone sent a Cruciatus at him. He wasn’t sure whose side it was from. It didn’t matter really, they both hated him. He fought the panic that the curse brought up by thinking of her. As soon as his attacker let up, he shot a stunning spell at them. He searched the room again, looking to see where he could help. He noticed her by the great doors at the foot of the great hall, fighting against Bellatix and his heart clenched in fear at the thought of her hurting. He turned his fear into anger and joined her. He was good at that. Turning his fear into anger.

He had done it for years.

In first year, when he first got to Hogwarts only to find that everything he had known was not in fact true. In fourth year when he had seen her at the Yule ball and thought she was the most beautiful girl there, despite her heritage. Just last year, when he was found having a mental breakdown in a bathroom as his world crashed down around him. She would say it was his greatest fault.

He knew that wasn’t true.

His greatest fault was not telling her what she meant to him. He should have told her how she was the reason he wasn’t more afraid in the Forbidden Forest in first year. How much he thought about her and wished things were different in fourth. How she was the only thing that made sense in the midst of all the chaos he endured the year before. How he loved her and prayed that the life they had imagined together wasn’t just a dream.

So he fought beside her.

He told her in the only way he knew how: through actions. Maybe when this was all over he would have a chance to tell her for real. He wondered how he must look, fighting Bellatrix next to the girl he supposedly despised. He decided it hardly mattered now in any case. Everyone here hated him anyway, he might as well protect the girl he loved. Suddenly he was being pushed out of the way by the furious Molly Weasley.

 

“NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!” Molly roared and she looked up to find that Ginny had joined them. Funny, she hadn’t even noticed. She had, however, noticed when he had. She watched awestruck as Molly and Bellatrix dueled it out, spells flying back and forth faster than she could ever have imagined. She felt his hand slip into hers and gasped as she looked up at him. He smiled slightly and shrugged as Bellatrix screamed in defeat in front of them.

Maybe it wasn’t just a dream.

She squeezed his hand once before dropping it and turning to rejoin the battle that was still raging around them. They didn’t have to say anything to know that this time, they were facing it together. “From now on,” she fixed in her head, “From now on they were facing it together. “

She loved that word, together.

She basked in the feeling of fighting by his side. She had been dreaming of it for years, not even daring to hope that something would change in order to actually bring them together. There was no one in the world she wanted to have beside her as she fought against the many death eaters that swarmed the hall.

No one in the world.

Their fighting was called to an abrupt stop as Voldemort called off his troops and she couldn’t help but sink into his arms in relief. He didn’t stop her or push her away as she had expected. Instead he pulled her closer and planted a kiss on her temple. She looked around and let out a shuddering sob at the sight of so many of her friends, acquaintances and classmates among the fallen. He only stroked her hair and held her close as she cried.

 

He admired her strength even now. So many of the dead were her friends and comrades, yet after only five minutes of grief, she was back to work, bossing people around, helping the injured, comforting those who lost friends and family. Including, he noticed, the Weasleys. He saw a shock of red hair, but didn’t know them well enough to know which one they had lost.

He stayed back.

He couldn’t help but feel that he didn’t belong there, among their grief. He didn’t know these people. He wasn’t their friend. Quite the opposite in fact. But he stayed anyway. He couldn’t show his adoration for her in public for the entirety of their relationship. Now that he could, he was going to use every chance he had to make it up to her. He had hurt her. She wouldn’t say so.

But he knew it all the same.

For two years he had loved and cherished her in private while maintaining his cruel and angry facade. He never had the liberty of showing her the pain his own words caused him as he saw the hurt form in hers. She said she understood, that she knew why it was necessary, but he knew that deep down, she really didn’t. Every terrible word he said to her since the beginnings of their relationship cut like a dagger straight to his heart.

He didn’t deserve her forgiveness. let alone her love.

 

She felt him behind her, out of the sight of the death eaters, but still there. She searched for his hand as they watched Voldemort approach. She felt him shudder slightly at the sight of his mother. She saw her best friend cradled in Hagrid’s arms and felt the tears fall unbidden down her face. He gave her hand a squeeze and she felt him tug her back as she went to join Ginny in running towards the man who had killed her friend. He pulled her back and wrapped a secure arm around her waist for support, muttering “Wait, love,” in her ear as she sobbed in pain and anger. She leaned back into him, letting him support her for once.

This is what she missed.

She was never more angry with anyone as she was with Voldemort in that moment. Not only had he killed her best friend, he was the reason she couldn’t do this before. She was livid. She squeezed his hand to let him know she was okay, then wiped her face and gripped her wand tighter. He let her go knowingly, giving her hand one last squeeze before turning to listen to what the dark lord was saying.

 

Nothing disgusted him more than knowing that he had once wanted to serve under the incorrigible man. He started suddenly as he realized that everyone’s attention was suddenly on him and he realized that they expected him to join the Dark Lord. He searched for his parents in the crowd of Voldemort’s followers and winced at the sight of his father’s eager face. His eyes turned to his mother, whose face held only fear. He tilted his head ever so slightly to her before clutching Hermione’s hand in his own again.

He made his choice.

Voldemort roared in anger and shot a spell in his direction. Hermione blocked it before he had a chance to think. The world erupted into chaos and suddenly her hand was no longer clasped tightly in his and the only thing he could think was he needed her back. It was impossible to hear anything in all the yelling, and the most he could hope for was that he would see her as he dodged spells and fired back some of his own, searching for her frizzy locks all the while. He didn’t even care about anything anymore, he just wanted her alive.

He wanted her with him.

 

“DRACO!” She screamed as the throng of people moving into action pulled her out of his grasp. She thought she saw him duck a spell as she was pulled into a battle of her own. She missed his presence beside her. Then all at once, it was over. Everyone was still as they watched Harry and Voldemort circle each other.

She couldn’t even feel relieved.

Watching the fight that ensued was one of the hardest moments of her life as all she really wanted to do was look for her boyfriend. She prayed he was among the rest of the crowd, staring captivated at the scene before them, as she was. As the light from Harry’s wand progressed closer to where Voldemort was standing, the entire world seemed to shake with anticipation, finally letting out a breath when the Dark Lord collapsed to the ground, dead. The crowd let out a massive cheer and people rushed forward to congratulate Harry.

She looked for him among the crowd.

 

He looked around, desperately searching for her distinguishing locks among the throngs of celebrators and quickly disapparating death eaters. He stunned many of them before they had the chance. He shoved his way through the room, closer to where everyone was converging to congratulate Potter. Finding the center and seeing that she wasn’t there, he pushed further, now fighting the crowd.

Then he saw her.

She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on, and he roughly shoved people out of the way in his rush to get to her. Their cheers were still ringing in his ears when he reached the edge of the mob, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. He slowed down his frantic pace and watched her search the crowd, her eyes finally settling on him. He watched in wonder as a dozen different emotions flickered across her features before finally settling on relief.

Then she ran.

 

She shoved her way through the few people still lingering on the outskirts of the celebration, not even caring enough to mumble an apology as she passed. When she was close enough, she flung herself into his arms. She laughed in pure glee as he spun her around and plastered kisses across her face and neck. He finally found her lips and she kissed him back with pure, reckless abandon.

Suddenly all her dreams were very much within reach. 


End file.
